A Texas mother is fighting for justice for her autistic daughter, who was brutally beaten by a group of bullies, as the middle school responsible for her well-being refuses to release video evidence of the incident. Maddison McDonald, 13, spent the last school year reporting a pattern of bullying to Sul Ross Middle School in San Antonio, but her pleas for help went unnoticed until it was too late.
Mother's Account of the Incident
'Every time she has her statement ripped up, she's told she's making it up and to go back to class,' Maddison's mother, Hazel McDonald, wrote on a GoFundMe page. 'Sadly, on February 26, 2026, the five girls that had been bullying and threatening Maddi made good on their threats.'
Maddison, who was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, was kicked in the head, neck, sides, and back, punched, and dragged by her hair while screaming for help, her mother said. The school, which claimed the issue was swiftly 'addressed,' has reportedly refused to release surveillance footage of the attack, which shows Maddison walking on campus before being grabbed by several other students, according to News 4 San Antonio.
Claims of Inaction by School Staff
'Faculty stood by and did nothing. The same admin that ripped up her reports of being bullied stood over her right after the attack, making her sit in a chair bleeding, terrified and begging for help,' Hazel wrote. The heartbroken mother said she had gone to the school multiple times before her daughter was attacked, sending numerous emails, contacting the superintendent, and visiting in person.
'[I] never could get anyone to follow up and find out why these kids kept going after Maddison and no one wanted to help,' she wrote on the fundraiser, which had raised over $13,800 as of Monday morning toward Maddison's legal and medical bills. 'The humiliation that she had to endure should have never happened... All I've heard from the school is that no bullying ever happened there, that we never reported it,' Hazel told the outlet.
Hospitalization and Aftermath
Maddison was left hospitalized after the brutal attack. '[The school] made her write a false statement saying everything that happened to her was her fault, while refusing to allow her to get any kind of medical care,' her mother continued on the fundraising page. According to Hazel, the school made no attempt to call 911 for medical attention and wouldn't let her contact her parents or receive medical care for about an hour until her mother showed up after Maddison 'found a way to call and get help.'
'She was forced to sit in a chair while her hair was falling out in clumps; she was bleeding from wounds and begging for her mom. She was denied everything until she was told that her attack was her own fault,' Hazel said. 'The school resource officer never even asked her what happened. He was given the statement she was forced to write and told not to get anything from her... Aside from numerous texts trying to cover things up, no one at Sul Ross has done anything to help make this right for our family.'
Lack of Accountability for Bullies
Hazel went on to say that, besides the handling of the incident on the day, the school is also not holding the gang of bullies accountable for the attack, and Hazel was forced to 'beg and plead' with the police chief for a warrant for the 'main two suspects.' 'To make matters worse, [the school] refused to arrest all five of the older students who brutally attacked Maddison. They had made it known they wanted to end her life. But no one would step up and try to hold any of the kids accountable,' Hazel said.
Hazel claimed the school principal sent out a 'false statement' to parents after the school was forced into a lockdown over the attack. 'The principal went as far as sending out a false statement to the entire student body parents that very hour we showed up, lying to the parents saying that the school was in a lockdown for a non-student-related issue, but in fact, it was because of the severity of the attack on my daughter that they had gone into lockdown,' Hazel said. The girl's mother initially went to the school board, where she was promised Maddison's glasses would be replaced, 'but now I'm being given the runaround about that.'
School's Response
In a statement to News 4, the school said in part: 'School administration took swift disciplinary action in accordance with district policy. Likewise, Northside ISD police followed state law in the filing of appropriate charges.' 'We want to emphasize that the matter was addressed despite allegations to the contrary. This type of behavior will not be tolerated within our schools,' the school added.
Legal Proceedings and Partial Justice
Hazel has since hired an attorney, and claimed in her GoFundMe that her efforts to hold her daughter's bullies accountable have seen some success. On Wednesday, one of Maddison's alleged attackers appeared in court, where the judge accepted a contract for a guilty verdict for a deferred prosecution. The girl was convicted of assault causing bodily injury and destruction of private property, Hazel told the outlet. The attacker is expected to serve a few days in jail, six months of close supervision, including drug testing, a 6-6 strict curfew, mandatory counseling for her and her family, 60 hours of community service, and no use of social media, according to the GoFundMe.
'And all of her electronic devices have to be registered with her probation officer since they kept cyber bullying Maddison after the attack,' Hazel said. 'They also have to pay for her ankle monitor, [a] special WiFi device for their home and she also has to write a detailed apology letter to us within 30 days.' Hazel told News 4 that she was grateful that there was 'some accountability,' but that the ordeal was 'beyond frustrating.'
'It's to the point - it's maddening because my daughter... she is not that kid that's going to be aggressive, and that's what they tried to say, that she started it,' she told the outlet. Hazel and her daughter are set to return to court for the only other current attacker that has been charged on May 13. 'We want change. That's all we want.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to Sul Ross Middle School, Bexar County Courts, and the San Antonio Police Department and attempted to contact Hazel McDonald for comment.
